We all have them.
The little food storage containers to hold leftovers in the fridge or to take lunches to go.
Whether you use glass or plastic, figuring out how and where to keep them in our kitchens can be a challenge. Now I know that you can buy sets where the lids snap on the bottoms or ones that collapse down for easy storage. But at our house we have quite a large and random collection that has been gathered over time.
So many different shapes and sizes. Ziploc brand, Tupperware, saved containers from Chinese Takeout. We send folks home after dinner parties with leftovers in some and then come home from friends' houses with others.
I don’t see the sense in throwing away what we already have to replace it with a fancy set. And given our past track record, we’d just end up giving some of that away and coming home with something that didn’t fit with our new purchase.
So we’re sticking with what we have but I had to come up with a storage system that works. Because when you add up all of the bottoms and the lids, the result is a rag tag group of so many bits and pieces that can be hard to keep organized. I can’t stand it when I can’t find a matching lid!
My solution? Two bins that sit side by side in the cupboard. On the right, I keep all of the bottoms in one bin and then all of the lids in the bin on the left. Keeps everything together in the cupboard but separated so I can easily grab the right sized container and then quickly locate the lid I'm looking for.
This week I suggest thinking about how you can better organize your food containers and let me know what’s working for you!
If you have a drawer or a space that is a mess, you’ll be able to find something there to get it all straightened out. There are the holders for specific things, like bags of milk or cans of pop. They have compartmentalized trays for drawers, storage bins and closet organizers. Things that make it easier to keep the little things in your house organized.
It’s always exciting when you have a spot with specific dimensions and you can find something that just fits and will perfectly hold the things you need it to.
I recently went to Solutions in search of something particular. We have a medicine cabinet in our bathroom that is large but shallow with only a few shelves. Everything I wanted in there didn’t seem to fit and I wasn’t taking advantage of the vertical space between the shelves. So I went in search of something that would help. And I found 2 little units that are the perfect depth and that hold all of our Q-Tips, little lotions, toothpaste, nail scissors, tweezers and more. Now every morning when I open the cabinet door, everything is in there, I know where it all is and it looks great.
So this week I suggest finding that one space in your home that could use a little containing, run out to your local organizing store and find that perfect something!
Oh and taking these pics of my medicine cabinet reminded me of a little tip… If your toothpaste tube is starting to run low, just push all of the toothpaste down, roll up the tube and use a regular old bull clip to keep it in place. Makes it nice and tidy and the toothpaste comes right out!
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